Vermont State University Johnson campus. File photo.
Vermont Business Magazine Vermont State University Interim President Mike Smith will release his administrative cost savings plan on Friday, after notifications to leadership, unions and the impacted staff members are complete. The plan – which was accepted by the Vermont State Colleges Board of Trustees yesterday – taken with Optimization 2.0 and the transformation work championed by faculty, staff, and leaders sets the unified university on path toward financial viability by Fiscal Year 2027.
“I want to acknowledge and honor the human impact in this set of recommendations and thank our colleagues for their many contributions and years of service to our university,” Smith shared. “Out of respect for these community members, we will follow a notification process that places them at the center before sharing details more broadly with campus communities and the public.”
Administrative cost savings have been at the center of criticisms of the Vermont State University from unions and others that they too needed to be right-sized as programs are optimized. Smith agreed with that assessment and put together recommendations to reduce redundancies, eliminates unnecessary layers of reporting and shifts positions to meet the demands of a unified, rural university with multiple campus settings.
“I fully recognize the challenge of these recommendations and I do not make them hastily or lightly, Smith added. “I appreciate the careful and thoughtful work that gone into our transformation recommendations. I know that success for our students and fiscal stability is within reach if we take the steps now to right size and restructure.”
Source: 10.25.2023. Montpelier, VT - Vermont State Colleges
